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Thursday, September 28, 2017

Thanks to Charles Gramlich for the news of this being Poetry Day. I'm an amateur poet but don't know it, so here's is my contribution. It has been posted before but not on National Poet's Day and I can't vouch for its authenticity as a poem.

A Warm Spring Day

It was a warm Spring day in 1940.
I was in the second grade and feeling sporty.
The horses, cows and pigs were content
In the fields where they were sent.
The birds were tweedle-dumming and tweedle-deeing,
The dogs and cats were lying and sleeping.
The boys and girls were in the schoolhouse,
Some were dozing and dreaming.
The lunch recess had come and gone,
When we ran and played so long.
The sun was passing through the sky,
Causing the heat in the rooms to be high.
My old gym shoes were ragged and torn,
And on my sockless feet, were worn.
The odors were building in the room so close,
The teacher looked at me and was morose.
From those sockless feet came a stink,
So bad it made some eyes blink.
Teacher raised her arm, pointed her finger, and said
"OSCAR, GO HOME AND WASH YOUR FEET,
AND PUT ON SOME SOCKS,
BEFORE YOU TAKE YOUR SEAT!!
I was taken aback and completely dejected,
But went home and did what was expected.
I'll never forget that awful day,
When the teacher had her way.
Now, I wash my feet,
Before taking my seat,
On a warm Spring day in May!

Saturday, September 16, 2017

This novel is another in the Cash Laramie series and I enjoyed the read. It starts with a Prologue with Cash Laramie buried in a coffin and uses the back story to tell how he got there. He was helping a lady, Berenice Rohmer, look for her brother who came up missing after withdrawing $50,000 from the bank. His partner Miles is also working on a case. He was taking a prisoner to Cheyenne for trial but suspects that the fellow was not guilty of murder.

Miles and Cash each follow their separate trails and end up practically with each other, except Cash was buried under two feet of soil in a coffin by a couple who had owned the hotel near the Lenore Casino. It was named after the wife of Baron Hans von Kempelen, the owner.

This was an interesting story and how it comes out is rewarding to me, the reader. There are many twists and turns which makes it even more exciting and kept my attention to the end. I will award it five stars.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Too bad this book isn't about the Dakotas of the West and Deadwood, South Dakota, but it's the Old New York version of the Old West. The Dakota (Apartments) was named after the Old West because at the time news about the Wild West was a popular subject and The Dakota was built outside of New York City about 30 miles away from downtown New York City. It had a bad name because it was on the West Side where the working people lived. It was actually on the west side of Central Park with a view of the park across the street from the upper floors and roof. It was built by Edward S. Clark and Isaac Merritt Singer, the inventor of Singer Sewing Machines. Both were millionaires and the Dakota was built for rich people.

Some of the residents are/were the Steinways (the Piano people), Boris Karloff, Lauren Bacall, John and Yoko Lennon, Robert Ryan, Roberta Flack, Candace Bergen, Leonard Bernstein, Earl Blackwell, Henry Blanchard, Mrs. Winifred Cecil Blanchard, The Browning Sisters, etc., etc., and etc., all millionaires or had the money to live there. Mister Birmingham tells the history from the time it was built to present day, the structure, the layout, the services, and ll the esoteric plumbing and electricity when it came into being, the elevators, the rooms available, size and decorations, and so on.

The first years it was all rentals until it was bought out and the new owner threatened to tear it down and put up a commercial building of some type. It was finally worked out to be a cooperative where the apartments had to be bought and managed by the co-op itself. A lot of the services were covered by the Clarks in a haphazard fashion, but now the owners must pay for everything and the prices went up.

Some of the tenants were not happy with the arrangements and some moved out, making the apartments available for others to purchase and some lived there free. Miser Birmingham does a fine job explaining all this in the book and I found it very interesting as it still stands today. He tells about the uptown and downtown rich people that you can be right there with him.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Luke Starbuck, the private detective, is at it again in Manhunter. He is hired to find the James boys and kill them, especially Jesse. He puts on disguises as needed as usual and travels to Clay County, Missouri, where he thinks he may find the James boys. He passes time with a floozie named Alvina in a brothel where the Younger brothers hang out and occasionally Frank and Jesse visit. He plans to infiltrate the gang acting as a horse thief but doesn't quite make it.

He hears about the plan to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, and Starbuck makes tracks there to thwart the robbery. As we know it was a mess and the bank was saved and the robbers get away. Starbuck doesn't get a clear shot of Jesse and has to follow them out of town where the Youngers brothers are wiped out, at least one of them.

Starbuck tries another tactic after the Northfield failure and catches up with Jesse in St. Joseph, Missouri, but his plan to get Jesse fails with the killing of Jesse by Bob Ford. He goes after Frank who is a different type and captures him.

I thought this was an entertaining rendition of the end of Jesse and Frank James and give it a solid four stars. Matt Braun is a fine writer and brings satisfaction to the reader. Recommended.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Deviating from my usual Western books, I've taken a diversion to England via Bill Bryson's book, The Road to Little Dribbling. I really like books with comedy in them and this is one of the finest in my estimation. This is strictly, well almost, all non-fiction, but Bryson throws in some asides that could be either in this travel exposition. He travels a route from one end of the country to the other, ending in Cape Wrath in Scotland.

Along the way, he expounds on the railroads, the people, the towns and villages, the countryside and the museums. Bryson became a British citizen after he realized that it was better than the U.S. where he was born. He is a journalist and lived in London for some years, marrying an English woman and having a couple of kids there. He rattles on about the shabbiness of some towns since he was last there and how the people had changed and their sense of humor. Bryson spends time commenting on the railroad system and how the UK government has screwed up some of it and reduced the tracks to about half what they used to be. He spends a lot of time in Museums, explaining their exhibitions and how brilliant the English are in comparison to everyone else in certain fields. His descriptions of the countryside around these various towns and the beach resorts are really interesting. He doesn't include many sports, except walking. There are thousands of miles of trails through the countryside and along the seaside and he does quite a bit of it.

Bill Bryson is a funny writer and I enjoyed the book. I'll even give it five stars to show how much I liked it and if you like travel writing, I recommend it highly.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

This week has been nothing but one thing after another, almost from A to Z. I managed to work on Vol. 2 of the trilogy some though, so it wasn't all a loss. The thing with computers is, it's easy to find yourself in a bind by scheduling videos and canceling other things. I schedule some so-called training videos and the time passes before you know it, and I've missed them. I try to catch up on the replays, but the same thing happens. I don't pay for the training, but it's over before I think of it. Yesterday morning at 9 AM one came on, but I was out to breakfast after reminding myself that I had something to do. It must be old age. Yesterday was my 85th birthday and I was pre-occupied anyway. All I can say is Thank the Lord for continuing life!

I try to keep things straight, but there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. So from now on, I'll do things by the week and maybe it'll straighten itself out. Maybe a large calendar with Notes and Reminders on the wall. I don't have enough wall space to do it right and proper in my "Office." Maybe I'll move outside and paint the Notes on the wall in contrasting color paint on the patio. I can see it now, the HOA will send me a bunch of letters threatening legal action and telling me I can't do this. AndI'll tell them, do what? Old age is fun.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

The Kindle Edition of The Sorry Life of Bobby Chase-the-Lord is now available. I’ve bee working all week to get this out, but even using Kindle Creator, there are some spacing errors for which I apologize. I’ll be working on them, but right now I don’t have any time for it. The novel reads continuously from begging to end, so you shouldn’t have any trouble with it. For $2.99 you can’t beat it! Order your copy today!

Thursday, July 13, 2017

James Vaughan is a pseudonym for a writer in the UK. His novel, Sand River, is a terrific western of 395 pages. Telling the story is an old man relating some of the more interesting and life-changing events that he lived through.

Jack Grice heads west at a young age and wants to be a cowboy. In Texas, he finally finds a job working on a ranch at sixteen years old as a gofer doing anything that his boss thinks needs to be done. He helps the cook prepare meals for the Cowboys and has already learned the leather trade, saddlery, harness, etc., in a local shop. He picks up on horses and cattle, and using a .44 Colt revolver. After a fall roundup he is assigned to trail the cattle in a cattle drive to Kansas. Later on, one of his friends sets him up as a horse thief and he must go to prison. The descriptions of his time in prison are really good and action filled; how he gets out is exciting, too. Grice returns to being a cowboy in Wyoming, getting a job on the ranch of Mr. Marques and his wife Kate of the gentry class.

But trouble comes his way again by getting mixed up in the cattle rustling mess at that time in history. Well trained and fast using a gun, he is forced to kill too many people and that get him arrested and he must face trial. Grice has a difficult time and finally faces his adversary in a do or die situation.

I really enjoyed this book and give it five stars. It is well written, plotted and structurally complete. I look forward to reading more from this author. Keeping my interest for almost 400 pages, it was extremely satisfying.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

This novel, The Ghost Dance, is the second Blade Holmes story. In this one, Holmes is out on assignment in Wyoming and gets a message to investigate the Ghost Dancers, which puts him in the middle of the U. S. Government and the Indians. Someone from one of those organizations, or maybe both, is trying to kill him and so far haven't hit him with a bullet. They have come terribly close, though,. mistaking somebody on the trail for him.

He meets with Wovoka, the initiator of the Ghost Dance who is in Nevada and doesn't get any results in the way of terminating the dances, which supposedly inspired the Indians to go to war with the Whites. Holmes continues his investigation by meeting with Sitting Bull and Man of Many Years on the Sioux Reservation later on. Parson Christie warns Blade to be careful in his travels because whoever is trying to kill him wants him dead. Blade runs into an old friend, Calamity Jane, who has also been watching over him in a fashion and helps in his investigation.

All in all, I liked Blade Holmes and his story of preventing a war between the Indians and Whites. It had enough action to keep the story moving and make it interesting and I give it four stars. The story contains some valuable history, too, about the Ghost Dancers and their place in Indian society and the disruption they caused among the Indians and Whites. A good summer read.